Backbreak
by CerealK
Summary: Our love is eternal, volatile, all encompassing, painfully obsessive and as beautifully destructive as a universe gone supernova. It kills us but we can't let go... Structure, Pressure, Fracture, Rupture- how far until our backs break?
1. Prologue

Hello all my faithful followers. No...I am NOT dead. I've just been going through life and with that life come a of of repressed anger. And it all came out in this fic. So get ready cause this is going to be gritty, ugly, sensual and everything that makes you shiver when reading. I promise you. XD This is a lot...darker?...than everything I've written before. What can I say; I'm trying my hand at a little bit of everything. Oh and I know, I normally despise the high school setting (kills self) but this is a high school fic that used the school as a plot device rather than a main plotline. Enjoy. XD

* * *

**Pairing**:NaruSasuNaru

**Disclaimer:** No; I DON'T own it. I just borrow the characters and put them back in naughty positions. 8D

**Warning: **There is VIOLENCE, mentions of drug usage and hot boiling sex. Man on Man sex. If that isn't your cup of tea ten get the hell out. No one is forcing you to stay. Flames will be laughed at and mocked indiscriminately. XD Yolu HAVE been warned. All characters are over eighteen.

***

**Backbreak:** The Prologue.

* * *

In the second before a rough fist connected with his smooth face Sasuke perceived with stunning clarity just how fucked up he was.

The tan, clenched blow connected with Sasuke's face sending him reeling; slamming his dark head into the twisted metal of the stall door and then, barely a heartbeat later, the deep profound revelation meant little either way because the pain had erupted fierce and explosive behind his eyelids and a dark part of him laughed in twisted hilarity screaming for more. It screamed for it; begged for it; shamelessly whored for it even as the nerve endings in his gut exploded supernova with agony as a knee buried itself into it.

Relentless fingers tore into his scalp twisting and murderous and yanked his head back to face the homicidal blue eyes of the enemy.

It was lunch time and he and Naruto were fighting in the bathroom again.

The place was a rank; once white tile covered in piss and grime and manner of human excrement that the Uchiha in Sasuke didn't want to think about. It was gory, nasty and brown vile with just a lingering hint of the weed that Gaara and his cronies had snuck in there to smoke earlier.

Naruto pulled back and smashed Sasuke's bleeding head into the wall right beside the sharpie scrawl which clearly told the world that Professor Anko was a cock sucking bitch and above the smear of brown something that the Uchiha didn't want to think about.

The industrial concrete beneath the chipped up tile was unforgiving to his face. Blood ran… freely.

Sasuke's laugher was manic.

"Pussy." He croaked out before ramming his thigh between Naruto's legs and making him a new meaning for blue balls.

The six foot blond stumbled back, his scratched bloody hands grappling wildly for his abused jewels. He was hunched over and his broad shoulders shook and trembled but he refused to let out a sound of pain.

He'd better not.

Calmly Sasuke picked himself up and wiped at the busted corner of his lips. Just as calmly he circled the blond who now on his knees crouched in a puddle of something greenish brown and viral looking.

"You're weak you worthless pussy. I can't believe anyone lets you fuck them on the regular."

Naruto's head snapped up and Sasuke crowed. The Uzumaki hated it when Sasuke poked at his ability to dominate.

Naruto snarled; a wordless fierce sound that made his face go feral.

"Prissy bitch. Shut the fuck up before I rearrange you face some more."

Sasuke's leg snapped out and something in Naruto's foot went _crack_. "Give me your ugly then. No more of this holding back bullshit."

Naruto snarled and lurched forward in a bestial move that shocked Sasuke and the twain went down in a heap of ripped Armani and bloodied Gap. Naruto was on Sasuke's chest and his fist was in his gut.

"Is this what you want?" Stars swam psycho around the Uchiha's vision as the pain crescendoed with each blow.

He pulled back and slammed his elbow in a tan jaw and relished the howl. The place was small, hollow and reverberated with the sick, fleshy sounds of flesh cruelly meeting flesh. Sweat rippled like wildfire off of skin and blood oozed from nasty gashes. Glass that splintered the floor from when Naruto's high kick had missed now; with gleeful vengeance; embedded itself into any skin foolish enough to show itself.

Buttons popped off Sasuke's shirt as Naruto's hands ripped it right down the middle. Teeth sank into skin and Sasuke slammed his fist into an unprotected kidney. Naruto, who was always reduced to the base animal when their fights ever managed to get this serious; howled and rolled tightly away. Sasuke followed him over his clouded mind mad and manic and wanting all the pain and frustration in his gut to just get out.

Naruto's right eye was swollen and black and Sasuke- in a flash of something like mercy- aimed for the other eye instead. There now he had a matching pair. Sharp nails tore into his skin and welts raced up his spine in red pain.

Fuck Sasuke was hard.

It had been a long time indeed since their fight had managed to get to this level as some stupid fuck always found out and ran to Tsunade babbling that Uzumaki and Uchiha were trying to finish what they'd started in grade school and finally kill each other.

Dumb fucks.

They didn't understand.

But Naruto did.

And that was all he cared about.

His blond was beautiful under him; bloody and beaten but by no means broken. A part of him that was separate from his flailing, punching activity realized that his blond was beautiful with his blood all over him. But it was a dark, dangerous part that Sasuke was scared to acknowledge and so he shied away from it.

Naruto bucked him off and slammed Sasuke's injured cheek into the ground managing to sprawl across the slender back and brace all his weight on the brunet's spine and the tender undersides of the knees. Bloody knuckles slammed into unprotected sides and nails scratched up pale shoulders. Teeth sank white fury into the back of a pale neck and Naruto was twisting Sasuke arm out and back to the limit of human dexterity. He was gonna pull that arm out or break it and Sasuke was giddy with anticipation. It would hurt like a bitch. He wanted it; he wanted the revenge and then; just as he was about to get it-

"Get them OFF!" The scream was piercing..shrill…and cut mercilessly through the pleasant red haze his mind had descended into.

Sasuke was not grateful.

*****

Konoha Academy had an odd tradition harking back from its origin in the Sengoku Era. Delinquents were disciplined in the courtyard; a wide, square space in the school's centre where everything from martial arts demonstrations to where school plays were put on. It was the focal point of the school and to get anywhere one had to pass through it.

Naruto and Sasuke were kneeling, bloody, in the middle of red- gold sand and the hundreds of eyes.

Sasuke- now somewhat back in what the average human deemed his 'right mind'- surveyed his partner in crime in abject fascination.

Fuck.

Naruto was a mess; an utter, bloodied, shredded, torn up mess. A whole side of his blond hair was stained red and was twisted by fists and ripped by nails. Black eyes, gash on forehead, scratches on face, brutal bite seeping red life on neck. Sweatshirt rumpled, sleeve missing…arm bloodied, knuckles shredded to mince meat. His jeans were wet with water and sweat and Sasuke's lip blood from that time the powerful knee had crashed into his face.

Naruto was a mess and Sasuke could feel he was no different.

A blue eye peeked at him and Sasuke felt his lip quirk in return.

Hn.

Tsunade was near hysterics; they really had gone far this time.

"-could have killed each other! It's obscene! It's wrong and it unhealthy! How can you continue to do this to yourselves? Aren't you ashamed?-"

Sasuke took mental catalogue of his wounds that hurt so good. Was he ashamed of the pleasure he was feeling?...No… he really couldn't say that he was.

"Well?" Tsunade demanded her hazel wyes blazing fire and righteous anger. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Sasuke looked up and took in the huge wide eyes staring at them from every corner of the courtyard. Neji was over there in a corner looking pristine and disgusted...Hinata was about ready to faint…Sakura had that worried- you-don't-know-what-you're-doing-and-should-listen-to-your-elders look on her face…..Iruka, Naruto's guardian was pale faced and sobbing into Kakashi's shoulder. The silver haired math professor had that look of calculated disappointment on his face.

…..Sasuke could just imagine the faces on Itachi and Fugaku when he got home.

What did he have to say for himself?

Sasuke flexed his jaw and reached into yank out the loose back tooth. Damn…that was the second molar Naruto had gotten out of him. He spat the bloody spittle out and watched it seep, fleeting and ephemeral like all things, into the void of the lower layers of the gigantic sandbox. He shifted painfully on his knees and snaked out a hand to tangle into bloody blond hair.

He yanked Naruto in and the kiss was as brutal and running red as their fists were. Sasuke pulled his tongue back from the hot metallic recesses of the Uzumaki's mouth and smirked.

"…Thanks for the sex."

Naruto snorted his blue eyes dancing as they drew in all that the Uchiha was; processed the ugly and the faults and the horror twisted up inside…and accepted it.

"…No problem."

***

TBC

***

And so we begin. Hold on to your underwear; I'm aiming to destroy them XD


	2. Structure

Hello all my faithful followers. No...I am NOT dead. I've just been going through life and with that life come a of of repressed anger. And it all came out in this fic. So get ready cause this is going to be gritty, ugly, sensual and everything that makes you shiver when reading. I promise you. XD This is a lot...darker?...than everything I've written before. What can I say; I'm trying my hand at a little bit of everything. Oh and I know, I normally despise the high school setting (kills self) but this is a high school fic that used the school as a plot device rather than a main plotline. Enjoy. XD

* * *

**Pairing**:NaruSasuNaru

**Disclaimer:** No; I DON'T own it. I just borrow the characters and put them back in naughty positions. 8D

**Warning: **There is VIOLENCE, mentions of drug usage and hot boiling sex. Man on Man sex. If that isn't your cup of tea ten get the hell out. No one is forcing you to stay. Flames will be laughed at and mocked indiscriminately. XD Yolu HAVE been warned. All characters are over eighteen.

***

**Backbreak:** Chapter 1- Structure

* * *

Sasuke managed to yank his head out of the way just as the radiator cap exploded off its base. Hot water and steam gushed out and over the side of the Camaro just as the Uchiha had reached a safe distance away.

"_Motherfuck_!" He snarled. He would have kicked the ever loving shit out of the car but Raptor was Naruto's Baby. He gladly break the Uchiha's ribs if anything ever happened to it.

Sasuke sagged against the stained wall of the barn and watched listlessly as the water seeped out of the pile of metal and bolts that Naruto had built from the floor up after rescuing the frame from a junkyard. Sasuke swore to god that the car was a trial sent from hell. Not a day went by when some part on Raptor didn't explode into pieces.

A Dark head tilted back against the rough barn wall and the Uchiha stared up at the dry shingles of the barn-cum-garage roof. Damn…they really needed to fix the hole in the roof before winter set in.

Pain shivered softly through him as he hauled himself up. They really had gone far the other day; Naruto had fractured one of Sasuke's ribs.

He wiped the oil from his hands and tossed the rag over unto a pile of other rags in the corner of the messy barn. He made his way out the rickety door and down the overgrown path that lead back up the hill to the main house. The grass was getting high again- they'd need to cut it.

Yanking open the back screen he stumbled into the washroom and toed off his ratty trainers, tossing them in the vague direction of another pile of shoes. He and Naruto had a great system going- there were piles of everything; shoes in the washroom, dirty and clean piles of clothes in the bedroom and piles of groceries in the kitchen…They really needed to get around to buying some furniture soon.

He maneuvered his way through the halls into the kitchen and glanced up at the clock propped up against a counter. Almost two o'clock. Naruto should be back any second. He put the banged up- kettle on and leaned tiredly against the counter. Fuck, his body felt like lead.

A resounding bang echoed through the room and Sasuke rolled his eyes. Naruto banged this place up more than the elements did.

Three…two…

A messy blond head poked around the corner and was closely followed by a tall body wrapped in wrinkled sweats. Naruto bounded over to the stove grinning. Sasuke just glared at the mud the blond tracked.

"Will you _never_ wipe your fucking feet?"

"_Hello_ to you too bastard. _Yes_, I arrived safely thanks for caring. _No,_ the walk back wasn't hard at all. I love you too sugar muffin."

Sasuke flung a messy kitchen towel into the blonds face. "Go wipe your fucking feet moron."

Naruto rolled his eyes but complied. Done, he yawned widely and hopped up to perch on the counter. His eyes roved over Sasuke for a minute lingering on the bandage peeking out through a holey shirt but he said nothing.

Sasuke set the tea to steep and for a few long moments there was silence. Sasuke shifted his weight and eyeballed Naruto out of the corner of his eye to judge his state. His face seemed calm enough and Sasuke deemed it ok to broach the topic. Naruto didn't seem angry… and Sasuke was really good at reading when Naruto was angry.

"…How was rehab?"

Naruto looked away and grunted. 'Same old. I fucking hate this outpatient, touch feely, share your feelings and cry shit. I've been clean for a year damnit."

Silence. Sasuke didn't remind Naruto that it was part of his deal with his social worker; one and a half years rehab in exchange for the social services leaving Naruto and his illegal home the hell alone. He didn't say anything especially since he didn't want to be reminded that Naruto had only gotten on the horse when Sasuke had run away three years ago….no…he sure as hell didn't want to remember ny of that.

He handed Naruto his tea and waited until the blond was sipping the brown liquid before he ventured into the conversation about Raptor.

"…I fixed the clutch."

Naruto grunted but a tiny grin tripped at the corner of his lips. He had just taken big gulp of tea when-

"The radiator blew though."

Tea sprayed out in a perfect arch and splattered unto the opposite wall.

"What! What the fuck happened to my radiator? I just got a cap for it last week!"

Sasuke shrugged. "Yeah, you got a cap all right- from the junkyard."

"Hey!" Naruto squawked, "You saying Kankuro sold me some faulty shit?"

"Yes." Sasuke muttered before grabbing some paper toweled and moving to sop up the spilt liquid. The walls were already stained; no need to add more. "And keep your fucking tea inside your mouth- please. It's disgusting as shit."

Naruto was already grumbling over the fact that Kankuro had sold him a fucked up radiator cap for his last thirty bucks.

"Never should have trusted that cat loving, paint wearing pussy anyway. Gaara is related to some messed up people."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. Gaara was another topic that Sasuke didn't want to talk about. It was easier to reign in the impulse to kill the bastard who'd gotten Naruto on drugs when nobody spoke about him.

"What's for dinner?" Naruto yanked open a cupboard and jumped back when the cupboard door came straight off its hinges.

Sasuke snorted. "Same thing we had for breakfast; ramen, tinned sausage and cheap rice brandy. What? You expected some magical grocery fairy to come down the chimney with a bag of goodies?"

The blond, who was still staring mutely at the cupboard door in his hands, blinked and replied absently,

"We ain't got no chimney."

Sasuke rolled his eyes in exasperation. Metaphors went right the fuck over Naruto's head.

"We 'ain't got' _no_ _food_ fuckhead. Are you going to go to the store soon or are you on some kind of religious starvation shit because if yes then I'm cutting the fuck out."

As he spoke Sasuke began pulling the afore mentioned ingredients out of their various places and set to work. He would have to be creative with dinner.

Naruto, who was frowning and trying to jam the cupboard door back in place, ignored him. "Is it just me or is this whole fucking house falling apart?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he strained the half cooked noodles. "You think? What did you expect when the old fart sold it to you for nothing?"

Naruto gritted his teeth and turned away; Sasuke mentally chastised himself. Naruto loved this house; it was the one thing he truly ever owned. When he had been sixteen Naruto had come across the sprawling farmhouse and spacious yard in the backwoods on the outskirts of town. The place had been owned by an old man who'd been getting on in years. Sarutobi had claimed that he missed his kids in the city and had struck a deal with the blond. Since he was leaving anyway he'd sell the orphan the whole shebang dirt cheap in exchange for the help moving. Naruto had agreed and forked over his life's savings. Too bad the old fart had never told the blond about the fact that the place was a mess of termites and old rot. The place was falling down around Naruto's ears but he refused to leave it.

Sasuke finished stir frying the soy doused noodles and fried sausage in silence and poured out the last of the liquor. Awkward, pregnant silences were common place between them and Sasuke had learned to just let them pass. It was such an oddity; having nothing to talk about with the person he knew the best. Talk about Irony.

At least the table was sound. Sasuke knew the heavy oak monstrosity had some strength in it- Naruto had fucked him over it more than once.

The Uchiha heir itched at the oil stained bandana tied around his hairline to keep his bangs out of the way. The sun was setting and the kitchen was cast in a low gloom from the dusk. There was static and expectation on the air…it was going to storm tonight.

"…We're going back to school tomorrow." He ventured.

Naruto grunted. It was a singularly amazing feat that someone who usually never shut up was quite familiar with holding a conversation through grunting. Sasuke supposed he'd been rubbing off on Naruto. It was only fair trade, really. He was being unusually talkative tonight.

"I hate that place." Naruto muttered after swallowing a rolled up wad of fried noodles. "I still don't get how those fucks thing forcing us to not go to that hellhole for three days is supposed to be a _punishment_."

Sasuke said nothing but stared out the cracked window that Naruto had 'fixed' with duct tape. The rain was starting to splatter down. Sasuke stared at it blankly trying not to think about how the acid like water would seep through the slats in the roof and soak the mattress if the storm became too hard. Sasuke didn't try to think at all these days.

"You gonna eat that?"

The Uchiha blinked and refocused on the blond now only half invisible in the gloom, across the table from him. Naruto was scruffy and staring balefully at him while indicating to the pile noodley rounds. For a split second the Uzumaki looked so ridiculous that something resembling an affectionate snort managed to escape the Uchiha. Silently Sasuke nudged the full plate over with the back of his hand and watched, amused, as Naruto devoured it.

His blond had no manners whatsoever and the uncouth hunching over and shoveling of food into his mouth just emphasized how much the younger male didn't give a shit about social convention. Sasuke's lips twitched and he reached into his pocket to pull out the battered box of Matterhorn's, lighting a stick and inhaling the smoky mint, content to amusedly watch the blond teeter between scarfing and managing to choke and kill himself.

Thunder ripped and rocked the walls and a chill wind swept through the apartment lifting dust motes and loose newspaper leafs into the air, floating animatedly for minutes before settling back down.

It was going to be a hell of a storm.

Finished, Naruto sat back and stared at Sasuke from under half lowered lids.

"I hate it when you smoke." A flash of irritation shot through the paler youth but Sasuke squashed it for now. Instead he blew and entire lungful of smoke into the blond's face.

"Jeebus, fuck! You pussy!"Naruto hacked out when the acrid smoke flew up his nose.

Sasuke smirked in cruel satisfaction and got up to go out to the porch. "Wash your plates moron. I won't be held responsible if rats pull you out of your fucking bed in the middle of the night."

Ignoring Naruto's mumbles Sasuke stepped out through the screen and front door dodging the unstable floorboards as he went. The night was pitch black already; dusk having long given in to the thunderstorms badass superiority. The large oaks rustled in the whipcord wind and the gale began driving the rain sideways. Little stings erupted on his face and arms from where the drops stuck like pinpricks.

It was cold.

In three minutes- Sasuke counted- Naruto was behind him arms braced on the banisters in front and remorselessly grinding an erection into Sasuke's ass.

Sasuke smirked in the darkness. "No."

Naruto lifted his head from Sasuke's neck confusion and annoyance colouring his voice - and probably his face too but Sasuke couldn't see that.

"Eh? The fuck you mean 'No'?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and pulled out the half burnt cig before flicking it out into the rain.

"No as in 'No' I don't want your puny dick anywhere near me." It was a lie…they both knew it.

Naruto was getting pissed- Sasuke could see it. He was always unstable after a Rehab meeting and most nights he really didn't appreciate being taunted but Sasuke didn't care.

"I've been in this fucking dilapidated house all day, working on that dilapidated car like a paid mechanic and even cooked dinner like fucking wife. I'm in no mood to just bend over like one too so go fuck yourself."

Sasuke shrugged out of Naruto's hold and began descending the porch steps into the rain. He had no reason to go out into the cold, stinging dark but he did it anyway.

Naruto's fist in his hair stopped him.

Sasuke was cruelly yanked back by the hair roots to bend back into Naruto's now hard embrace.

"Wife huh?" Soy scented breath was hot and damp against his air and the fist was tightening by degrees in his hair. "You think I treat you like a wife?"

Sasuke struggle against the thicker frame behind him but Naruto held him firm. A hot hand reached down and cupped Sasuke roughly through his stained jeans.

"Now why would I do that when _this_ says you're all man?" Naruto's grin was feral against Sasuke's neck. "All man and _all_ _mine_."

"Like fuck." Sasuke snarled and drove his elbow into Naruto's belly.

The blond's grip loosened and Sasuke was out into the rain and across the yard like a shot. He slipped in the hot mud and wet rain slammed into him from above but he didn't dare stop. He knew Naruto was right behind him.

His bare feet stumbled over rocks and roots but he pumped his legs as fast as he could, skidding down the muddy track and scrambling up a slight incline that lead up to the forest line. He slipped. Naruto slammed into his back and they both went down into the slick mud.

"Ow! Fuck!" Sasuke screamed when Naruto's two hundred pounds of pure muscle landed on his sore ribs. He scrambled madly and twisted out of the grappling hands trying to scramble on hands and knees back up the incline while blinking red stars from his vision. Rain plastered his clothes and drove into his eyes for a split second before a large hand buried itself in his hair and yanked back cruelly.

Sasuke grunted as he landed face first in the hot mud. The wet earth was thick and rich and slippery and Sasuke heaved back to wipe the slop out of his face before flinging it in to the looming blonds eye and kicking him in the gut. Hard. Naruto went over like a pile of bricks and Sasuke was on his chest, punching, before either could think.

The darkness was pressing in on them and the rain stung like bullets. Lightning split the sky and thunder screamed out in primal fury, rocking the ground and shaking the very heart in his chest. The elements were as feral as the two grappling in the wet earth.

Pain was hazing over his vision again and blood was pumping in his veins and fuck- Naruto had him down in the ground again. The blond was pressing hard on his shoulders and Sasuke' hands were pinned above his head; knees were buried in his back. The mud was sliming down his neck and under his t-shirt and Sasuke could only grin like mad when Naruto grabbed his hips with one hand and yanked the loose jeans down.

Button and zipper caught on a heavy erection and Sasuke cussed at the nip of metal against skin. Naruto yanked the pants down to his knees before delivering a resounding slap to his backside.

Sasuke bucked ferociously. "What the _hell_ do you think you're-" Another slap, and another and another in quick succession. It stung, mother of _god_ it stung! The rain water was making everything slicker and sharper and Naruto's hand was by no means light. Sasuke was furious!

With an almighty heave he shoved the blond off and twisted to slam his fist into a tan jaw. "I am **not** your bitch!" He snarled. Naruto just cursed and held unto Sasuke jeans bound legs managing to yank the brunet back under him. Hands slipped in the rain and the mud as they wrestled and fought. A crack of thunder rent the air again and the Uchiha jumped for a bit. In that second of distraction Naruto emerged victorious.

Panting and triumphant the Uzumaki hovered above the conquered- and very pissed about it- prey. Bracing both hands with a corded forearm Naruto reached down and yanked the pants off.

"Stop struggling bitch, you're harder than I am." The blond smirked.

Sasuke's nostrils flared but he didn't reply. It was the truth after all and he was so painfully aroused. His blood sang with lust and adrenaline and pain shivering over tender nerves. He was hurt- probably not as badly as he wanted to be- but he was hard and aching and empty and – and fuck they'd never done it in a thunderstorm before.

Naruto pushed toned legs apart and settle between lowering his head to bite animal like on an exposed neck. Teeth sank into white skin until the wound bled, deeply, just as deeply as the hard cock sank into his depths with nothing but rain as lubrication.

Sasuke grunted and twisted to accommodate both sensations hissing between his teeth as Naruto's abnormally sharp canines bit in. Buried half way inside the Uzumaki levered himself up and, with rough hands, caressed the trembling body beneath him. Sasuke closed his eyes and focused on the hot intrusion, the wet rain, the slick mud and the hard male pressing him down into Mother Earth's embrace.

Thunder crashed and rain poured down in a new torrent as Naruto pulled out and thrust back in. It was hot, it was burning hot and tight pain and Sasuke reveled in it. Naruto was muscle and height and power and brutality wrapped up in a ripped body. Sasuke yelled out when the hard penis nudged his swollen prostate and pleasure stabbed into his belly.

It was hard and their hisses and howls melted seamlessly into the roaring thunder and screaming air. Water seeped into his open mouth and pain danced behind his eyelids. It was so mingled with the pleasure screaming in his gut that Sasuke couldn't tell where one ended and one began. This- this was perfection.

Stubble and chest hair scrabbled at his skin and –when had Naruto taken his shirt off?- rough calloused hands molded his legs to a shape of his liking. Sasuke laughed in sheer madness.

"This is it? I get more when I'm using my hand."

Naruto stopped and snarled wordlessly before-

"AH!" There we go. Mud caked into dark hair as the Uchiha threw his head back from the force of the thrusts being delivered into his body. It was painful- no matter how experienced he was- to get such a hard reaming without lube but Sasuke took it and grinned.

Pleasure and water and lightning and hard cock in a throbbing channel and Sasuke was very, very pleased with existence right then as his life began and ended at every thrust in and every drag out.

Gasping from the rough handling and hard ecstasy a part of Sasuke's memory recalled when he'd been young and had read about some accounts of gay sex on the net. He hadn't believed the tales of silk and freakishly soft, hairless men sobbing and pleading and mewling then and now; pinned under Naruto's rough body and smeared like an animal with the earth that smelled of age and tasted like iron he laughed in its face. They were men. He and Naruto were alpha prime examples of the male species; hard, strong and fiercely passionate. Having another man's cock up his ass did nothing to change that and his mad laughter rang in the dark night with pleasure.

Naruto pulled out, rolled him over and plunged back in. Sasuke scrambled at mud and rocks and heaved his body backwards into the sex. Naruto's hand fisted into his hair and Sasuke grabbed a tan buttock as he neared his orgasm. The younger man was hammering the Uchiha' prostate and Sasuke was bound and determined to get off with Naruto. Hot breath and wet acid rain slid over his neck. The very earth was vibrating with the growling of the thunderclap that was building and Sasuke orgasm was searing up his spine.

The pleasure spiked, the rain hammered, the wind screamed like a beast and just as Naruto sank his teeth into Sasuke's neck-

Eruption. The sky exploded and the thunderclap burst like Armageddon. Sasuke orgasm swallowed him like a beast with teeth and the pleasure sank down to his bones in painful madness. It was- it was-

Panting, Sasuke gathered his wits back piece by piece from the four corners of the earth where Naruto's sex had flung them to.

It was-

"Get the fuck off me," He gasped, "You weigh a tonne."

Naruto snickered and pulled out slowly.

It was- It was- going to be a fucking bitch to rinse all this mud out of his hair.

Sasuke's body lay there on the ground smeared with cum and mud. Hot release was beginning to seep out of his body down his thighs and Sasuke was too weak to do anything but let the blessed rain wash him. Naruto flopped heavily down into the wet earth beside him. Out of the corner of his eyes Sasuke observed the wet skin over the having chest and the water sliding down it. The shadows were deep here and Naruto's face was thrown in harsh darkness in places. Blond hair was matter into wet honey gold along his forehead and the blue eyes were staring peacefully up into the rain.

Sasuke heaved and began to push himself up. He was standing shakily and about to pass Naruto's head when the blond latched onto a leg and twisted him. Sasuke fell jarringly unto his knees upside down above Naruto's face. Black eyes stared into inverted blue ones and the rain poured down like tears from above.

There was something in those blue eyes, a longing, and emptiness, a- something- that made Sasuke flinch and grumble and very annoyed all at once. Naruto's gaze softened and the blond reached up to pull the dark, muddy head down for a kiss. Sasuke allowed it and accepted the soft tongue and chapped lips. The kiss was awkward – they were upside down for fucks sake- but it was soft and sweet and…something Sasuke had no clue how to deal with. Soft and sweet shit made him queasy.

He pulled away and Naruto stared at him with that odd look again for a second before losing it and grinning like a panther. "Always wanted to do that Spiderman kiss; nice."

The Uchiha's eye twitched and he barely refrained from burying his fist into Naruto's eye.

"Freak." Sasuke muttered trying to get away.

"Hey!" Naruto squawked still holding on. "It's normal to want a kiss after awesome sex!"

Sasuke broke the hold and snatched up his jeans using the rough denim to scrape some of the thick mud that the rain wasn't washing off from his skin.

"We're not normal then."

The odd look flashed over Naruto's face and the blond turned away. "…Yeah." He muttered. "We're not."

And Sasuke had nothing to say to that so the pregnant silence continued for a second before he turned towards the house looming in the darkness.

He needed a shower.

***

The water spluttered out of the rusty showerhead and ran over Sasuke's bowed head. The bathtub was an old claw footed iron monstrosity and most of the time the messed up piping spat out water that felt like lye and the inside of a industrial iron works plant but the Uchiha didn't care. He was too busy not caring by watching the water swirl between his feet and down the drain. It was easy to not confront the problems staring you in the face when you told yourself that you didn't care.

He had been clean for sixteen minutes; he needed to get out.

Turning of the squeaky knob he stepped out of the tub-there was no shower curtain- and unto the old ragged towel that served as a mat. Scrubbing at his hair he turned on the sink pipe and waited blankly for the first gush of rusty iron water to wash down the gurgling drain before brushing his teeth. Damn; that reminded him, he had an appointment with the dentist tomorrow. Naruto's fist was claiming teeth faster than Sasuke could reconstruct them.

Done he spat and walked out the hanging door and into the master bedroom.

This was the one room that old fuck Sarutobi had kept in any repair and really, it wasn't much. The walls were insulated and plastered but that was it. Naruto's 'like piles with like' system was in full effect in here since there was no furniture. Dirty clothes were in a pile the back and freshly laundered ones in a pile in the corner farthest from the cracked window. Books were in a heap to the left, and personal hygiene stuffs were in lines on the right. The bed was a king-sized mattress on the floor with a corner of its cotton sheeting pulling off. Naruto- who had probably hosed down outside- was in his boxers and already on it.

Sasuke tossed the towel into the 'dirty' pile and stepped into a fresh pair of shorts from the 'clean' pile. Didn't matter if it was his or Naruto's, their clothes were mixed up to shit and back.

"Your phone was ringing."

Sasuke stiffened and clenched his teeth. Fuck.

Flopping unto the bed he checked the screen. Eight missed call from his father. Double Fuck.

As if on freakishly torturously cue the phone rang again. The funeral march that was his father's ringtone sounded through the room. Naruto's lips twitched and Sasuke glared.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you." It was a demand, not a question. Sasuke weighed his options.

"At a friend's."

"Don't give me that bullshit boy, where the hell are you!"

Sasuke scowled. "I said I was out. What? An eighteen year old can't go out without asking permission?"

"Boy, I will slap you to fucking hell if you ever answer me like that again. As long as you're under my roof you sure as hell do! You think I wouldn't hear about that shit at school and your suspension?"

'_Itachi you are fucking dead'_ Sasuke though venomously.

"No, Sir." He replied trying to keep the anger and annoyance out of his tone. Fugkau only got worse if he heard 'attitude'.

"Damn right. What the hell are you thinking? What? I want you back here tomorrow boy- three sharp. And your mother's been calling. Get back to her and tell her to stop phoning this house. It's upsetting Tayuya."

Sasuke saw red. "Yes, heaven forbid my dear stepmother get bothered by a swift breeze."

"I swear to god boy If you so much as-"

Sasuke pulled the phone away from his ear and closed his eyes trying to breathe and suppress his anger. His ears were ringing in rage and raw fury was bubbling up from his gut. Not calm but somewhat in control he pressed the phone back to his ear to weather the rest of Fugaku's rant.

"-hear me? I want you in this house tomorrow! And don't think I don't know about that blond menace you're with! Didn't I raise you with class boy? And another thi-"

Sasuke placed the phone on the floor and reached down to grab the blanket. Naruto might be a living furnace but Sasuke got cold easily. Settling down he prayed to every deity out there that he wouldn't open his mouth and piss his father off even more.

"I'll be there tomorrow." He grated tonelessly to the man's question.

"Good. You're getting out of hand and its time I damn well stopped it."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yes Sir" he answered dutifully. "Tomorrow." And hung up before Fugaku could get another word in edgewise.

Silence.

Naruto stopped pretending to be absorbed in the manga he was looking at and erupted into laughter. Sasuke snarled and slapped him.

"What the **fuck** is so funny?"

"I swear bastard, one day that man is gonna make you commit murder and I wanna be there to see it."

Sasuke huffed and flopped unto the hard mattress. He couldn't deal with this shit. The rain was till pounding on the shingles but the noise didn't drown out Naruto's next comment.

"Your dad is a prime reason why I'm actually _glad_ I don't have any parents."

_What_? Sasuke shifted to frown at Naruto. "…You don't mean that."

Naruto's smile was bitter. "Yeah… I do. I'm starting to think family is worth less than the trouble it comes wrapped up in."

Sasuke's frown was still there when the blond switched the light off and returned to the bed his tan hand a dim shape in the gloom as it scratched his balls.

Sasuke tried to analyze what Naruto had just said and failed. He simply didn't have the energy to figure out why Naruto's desire to have a family had changed and – more disturbingly- _when_? Ever since they were young it was all the blond had yapped about. A house, a car and the two point five kids. How could he have missed such a drastic change in the blond's ideology? But he was tired and his mind was sluggish from the adrenaline and the hard sex and the shower.

As much as he wanted to he couldn't think straight and his mind was shutting down. The old house creaked and settled for the night. Another night; another night which was exactly the same as the last hundred and the predecessor of a hundred more. This was Sasuke's life. His father and this old house and the pain of Naruto's fist and his desperate urge to not think.

Sasuke's eyes fluttered shut.

Some wild animal howled in the darkness.

The pain in his ribs rocked him to sleep.

Unknown to him two blue eyes were open and waiting. As soon as Sasuke was buried in sleep the owners of the gem eyes shifted and tentatively wrapped an arm around Sasuke's waist as the blond knew full well that it would never be allowed had the Uchiha been awake.

Another night, another stolen embrace.

Naruto closed his eyes and breathed.

The pain in his heart kept him awake.

TBC…


	3. Pressure

Chapter 2: Pressure

Beta:** Master of the Rebels**

**Disclaimer: **No I do no own Naruto.

Warnings: Not for the underaged.

Dedicated to: Skully.

* * *

"God, man, what the _fuck_?" Naruto grumbled. "You'd think they'd never seen us before or something."

"Hn." Sasuke snorted and turned back to his chips. It was Monday, their suspension was over, and they were in the cafeteria back at school, or, as Naruto called it- 'the fucking torture chamber sent from the devil's asshole'.

Sasuke shifted in his seat as the concrete-like plastic- bolted to the floor to prevent theft- wreaked havoc on his abused ass. He glanced up again- through his bangs- and glared balefully at the gormless idiots gaping at him like open fly traps.

Naruto grumbled under his breath and Sasuke tuned him out and focused on calm. In less than four hours he'd be face-to-face with his father and _that_ was one experience he didn't want to go into unprepared. Naruto nudged him and Sasuke glanced over.

The blond's clothes were only slightly rumpled but his hair was insane- matted on one side and stuck straight up on the next with random spikes and fringes every which way.

"Hey- fuck, are you listening to me?"

"No." Sasuke deadpanned- absolutely unable to believe that he hadn't noticed Naruto's hair before they had left the house. "What the fuck is up with your hair?"

Naruto squawked in indignation. "What do you mean? This is the boss style. The magazine called it 'Wild Animal bed head'."

Sasuke snorted. "It looks like a wild animal, alright. One that didn't survive a lightning storm."

Naruto's left eye twitched. "What- the fuck- ever. So are you coming or not?"

Sasuke just raised an eyebrow in question. Naruto huffed. "Shino is hosting a doof Friday night. I asked if you wanna go."

Sasuke slouched further over in his seat to take the pressure off his abused asshole and thought. Aburame Shino was a half Japanese, quarter Caribbean, one-eighth Irish, and point-something Indian racial mongrel of the highest order who had, quite ironically, been born an albino. Shino was quiet and most times faded into the background when the authorities were around. The rest of the student population knew him for the dancehall style doofs he threw in the clearing in the woods when his father was out of town.

"A rave?" Sasuke asked, half annoyed. "Are you mad? If the cops catch you within three feet of 'X', you'll be in jail faster than your tiny mind can process what the hell just happened.

Naruto growled and yanked at the sloppily tied necktie that was slowly decapitating him. "I'm not gonna _use_ any dipstick. I just… feel like dancing."

Sasuke exhaled hard through his nose and shifted again, trying to get comfortable. His answer was interrupted by the clatter of trays and the general noise that accompanied Inuzuka Kiba wherever he went.

The scruffy youth plopped down in the chair opposite them and loosened his own tie with an impatient jerk of his wrist. "Fuck, I hate having to wear this piece of shit uniform three days of the week. You'd think they'd just do away with it altogether." Without waiting for any form of acknowledgement he bit sloppily into his burger and- around a mouthful of food- promptly asked them if they were going to Shino's party.

"Ew- dude- close your fucking mouth. I don't wanna see your half-masticated shit!" Naruto snapped.

Sasuke opened his mouth but someone beat him to it. "Ooh, look who learned a big word." Shikamaru drawled, flopping lazily into the seat beside Kiba. Choji- Shikamaru's misfit shadow- maneuvered his bulk into the other one. "Have you been reading the dictionary again? I warned you about not hurting your fragile mind."

"Man, _fuck you,_ man!" Naruto griped back. "I keep tellin' you people that I'm intelligent and shit. No one believes me."

"With good reason." A prim female voice- Sakura- joined in.

paragraph "Yeah, Naruto," Ino supplied. "You couldn't get worse grades if you tried."

Both women settled on Sasuke's right and the Uchiha promptly felt a migraine start to bloom. The pain behind his eyelids coupled with the unholy stinging in his ass – and _damn_ Naruto for taking him dry- was promptly turning his mood sour.

"Whatever," Kiba cut in. "So, dude, are you going to the doof or not?"

"I wanna, but I'm trying to convince the bastard."

Sasuke's eye twitched. "Parties are not my thing."

"Bullshit." Kiba snorted. "I was there when you went to ATI last year. You drank half the grown men under the table."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and shifted again, trying to figure out how to both answer Kiba without cursing and to find a position that gave his ass some rest.

"I-"

'Why do you keep squirming like that?" Shikamaru queried with a yawn.

"Come to think of it, _yeah_." Naruto added. "You haven't sat still since we got here."

Sasuke snapped. "You know what, contrary to what all we good little faggots would like to believe- the asshole was never intended for a cock to get shoved up inside it. I'm _sore,_ fuckwad."

Silence.

Utter and complete silence.

_Fuck_.

Sasuke sighed and eyed the girls out of the corner of his eye. Both of them were red-faced and facing their plates. Kiba had put his burger back down on the tray, trying to swallow around the lump in his throat, while looking decidedly green in the face.

Sasuke scrubbed his face and tiredly waited for it.

"You know," Chouji said quietly. "I keep forgetting that you two are a couple…what with the… fighting… and all."

Sasuke couldn't fucking believe this, and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Why, Akimichi? Because we don't talk on the phone twenty-four-fucking-seven or stuff scented love notes into each other lockers?"

"You almost ended up in the hospital!" snapped Sakura, her high, self-righteous voice grating fiercely over his frayed nerves. "Sasuke, what is going _on_? Why do you keep _doing_ this? Can't you see that it's not _normal_ to-?"

And that right there is where Sasuke had had _enough_.

"Sakura, I know no one has ever told you this before and, as such, it gives me great pleasure to be the first in telling you to keep you over-inflated, self-righteous, gargantuan forehead _out of my fucking business_. Literally. I suggest you find other things to fill your useless, empty life with than worrying about me allowing my boyfriend to break my ribs before screwing me. Now fuck off."

Again with the silence.

Fuck.

Ino snorted. "Well, I _told_ you to leave it alone, Sakura."

The pink haired girl in question clenched her teeth together in annoyance. 'Fine, Uchiha. See if I try to help you anymore."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Suddenly, a loud, tinny scream cut through the tension.

'_Go to sleep bitch, Die motherfucker, die. Uh! Times up bitch, close your eyes! Go to sleep bitch, why are you still alive? How many times I gotta say close your eyes! And go-'_

Fuuuuck. And his day just got worse.

"Well?" Naruto asked. "Are you gonna answer it?"

Sasuke sighed. "Gimme that bag?"

Naruto handed over the black messenger satchel where the unholy, screeching death music was coming from.

As he was in no hurry to find the phone, Sasuke lazily rooted through the bag, finally giving up and upending everything onto the table. Kiba screeched and yanked his food back from the amassed detritus.

"Expired cellphone cards, bottle caps, crushed coke cans, beadie necklace, empty pens, Naruto's math homework from last month-"

"Hey! I was lookin' for that!" The blond screeched indignantly. "You made Asuma gimme a fuckin detention and shit and it was in your _bag_?"

Sasuke ignored him. "-dirty arm band, some more bottle caps, flavoured condoms, Oreo wrapper-

"Dude!" Kiba yelled. "You take condoms to _school_?"

Sasuke stared at him. "Kiba…this may be hard for a virgin like you to understand…but I am sexually active. _Very_ active. It's actually quite nice."

"Not when Naruto is shoving his fist down your throat." Sakura muttered viciously with a cruel stab to her salad.

"As long as he stops loosening my teeth, he can shove _whatever he wants_ down my throat." Sasuke replied idly.

The pinkette threw down her fork in disgust.

Sasuke smirked to himself as he found the phone. The ringing had stopped but if he knew the caller as well as he did then-

"_Go to sleep bi-_"

Sasuke flipped the device open. "Yes, Itachi? How can I help you?"

"You may start by telling my why the Academy had to call _me_ to inform us of your suspension and then may continue with why Father had to call me at twelve in the night to scream about you to me. What have you done now, you little fool? And before you ask, yes, unadulterated sadism _was_ the reason I told him about your suspension when he was already angry at you."

Sasuke gripped the cellphone tighter and, gritting his teeth, wondered if there was some malevolent force up there that just hated him and so gave him this fucked up family to deal with.

"I didn't-"

"Do _not_ give me that, you little puissant." Classic Itachi. He never deigned to lower himself to use contractions like the rest of the modern world.

"Listen to me. I listed you as my emergency contact in my school file. As for father, Tayuya was-"

"For the love of God, Sasuke." Itachi interrupted _again_. "Tayuya is _always _doing something. You should know by now that whenever he is on one of his little trips with that airhead that he becomes inaccessible to the free world. Father will realize his mistake in the thirteenth hour- when his bankbook is in the red and he wakes up with a knife in his back."

Sasuke saw red. "Then what the fuck_ do you expect me to do_?" He shouted, so pissed off that he hadn't realized he had slipped off into Japanese.

"_Do not curse at me little brother." _Itachi hissed venomously in the same language.

Sasuke grit his teeth and forced the murderous hatred from his throat and back down into the teeming pit of frustration and bile that had long taken up residence in his core.

"_This is easy for you to say. You're off at University surrounded by your sycophants and admirers. You don't live here with him, day after day and all you hear is how much of a __goddamn__ nuisance you are. I swear that-"_

"_Sasuke." _Itachi drawled_. "I really could not care less about your sad problems. It only becomes my issue when he calls me in the middle of a study session to scream at me about your mistakes. I lived with it for twenty years and it is now your turn. Do not continue with this madness, Otouto- I really do not want to be reminded about any of you. Do as he says and keep your mouth shut. Am I understood?"_

Sasuke closed his eyes. Of course not. Had he really fucking expected to get anything more from fucking Itachi? _Seriously_?

"_Am I understood?"_ Itachi grated out when he didn't receive an answer.

"_Hai." _Sasuke spat. "_Crystal."_

"_Hn." _Itachi intoned. "_Oh, and little brother…you __**are**__ a nuisance."_

The dial tone was all Sasuke was hearing. The fucker had hung up. Sasuke clenched his fist so hard around the piece of plastic that he heard it creak and groan under his hand. His mind was swimming in red, concentric circles of loathing and Sasuke despised the very air his family breathed. He was the youngest, the runt of the litter and that fact ensured that he was never given any respect from the people he was supposed to call 'family'.

He flipped the device closed and threw it down on the plastic top of the table. Slender, pale hands immediately shot to his temples as he valiantly tried to rub the murderous rage from his consciousness. It was minutes before he became aware of the silence at the table.

"Ok. _What_? Why the _fuck_ are you all staring at me?" He growled.

Kiba held up his hands in surrender. "Yeesh, man, calm the fuck down. Its nothin' bad."

"Yeah, Teme.' Naruto agreed, grinning, from his side. "It's just…you sound hot when you start talking that sexy talk."

Sasuke stared at the blond's grinning visage in absolute disbelief and wonder for a moment. Slender oval face still retained enough fat to be childish when he grinned. Big, bright blue eyes, six deep brown scars slashed viciously across both cheekbones. Naruto was an absolute contrast to everything everybody in his life had envisioned Sasuke ending up with. Hell, some days even he himself was confused as to what the fuck he was doing with the moronic blond.

But then….

Naruto's eyes darkened into a serious blue and his face grew grim. A large tan hand reached out and clasped the base of Sasuke's head. Naruto pulled the quiescent Uchiha's face down into the crook of his own shoulder and neck.

"Ignore him, Teme," he murmured.

For his part, Sasuke just continued to stare blankly at the smooth, muscular expanse of Naruto's neck muscles. Something old and cruel inside Sasuke flared up and- in the blink of an eye- he bit down harshly into the smooth muscle.

Naruto threw back his head and hissed. "Christing fuck, Teme."

Sasuke held on and sank his teeth deeper into the layers of Naruto's skin. The pain and frustration inside him was boiling over into something murderous and he knew that Naruto was fully willing to take the brunt of his anger. Like a true snake, Sasuke gripped the blond's twitching limbs in a strong hold and bit down deeper into the flesh and ligaments. Dimly, he registered the gasps and outcries from the people around them, but Sasuke couldn't honestly bring himself to care.

His teeth broke through and Naruto let out a choked cry.

Sasuke pulled back and- immensely pleased with himself- watched, fascinated as the ruby red liquid bubbled up and ran red lines down Naruto's smooth tan skin. He moaned softly in the back of his throat before leaning down and obscenely running his soft tongue over the thickly bleeding wound.

Kiba groaned. "For the love of god, Uchiha, you sick fuck. That's _disgusting_. You're breaking like _twelve_ health violations."

Sasuke tilted his head and surveyed the torn skin, the outline of his teeth, and the slow trickle of ruby red blood. He smiled.

Naruto brought his blond head back down to look at him. "Ok now?" he asked, voice deep and husky with pain.

"Hn." Sasuke hummed noncommittally. Leaning in, he lapped and nuzzled- almost (but not quite) apologetically at the deep bite before straightening and reloading his backpack.

"I've gotta go." He muttered.

Sasuke got up from the chair and surveyed the varied expressions directed his way. Half the fucking dining room was observing them (not that this was unusual) with varying degrees of shock and disgust, but Sasuke didn't care about them. Sakura and Ino were decidedly green in the face, Kiba was looking grim, and Shikamaru was simply shaking his head.

Sasuke turned back to the only person who mattered.

Naruto's blue eyes were calm and he completely ignored the wound on his neck.

"Going home?"

"Hn. My classes are done. You still have Spanish."

Naruto's mouth twitched and the tall, muscular blond looked away for a split second but Sasuke had still seen it. The fucking look from last night was back in Naruto's eyes. The sad, patient, longing, what-the-fuck look that made Sasuke want to snap something's neck.

"If…If he gets out hand…look, just call me, ok."

Edgy and itching to get out of there, Sasuke nodded jerkily, grabbed his bag and stalked out of the crowded cafeteria.

He was starting to hate that expression of Naruto's. It made him think things that were better left alone.

* * *

It was almost miraculous. Fugaku didn't even open his mouth when Sasuke stepped into the spacious living room. The thickly built, middle-aged, ex-police chief was sitting in his red leather armchair, his dark, piercing eyes boring holes through the Evening Edition of Konoha Daily.

Sasuke knew better than to make the other man speak first.

"Good Evening, Father."

The man looked up to glanced at the wall clock. It read Two-Fifty PM. At least Sasuke had been on time.

The youngest member of one of the oldest clans in the Fire Country looked around his home. It was traditional Japanese, built sometime during the Meiji era and contained more precious antiques and priceless works of art than was healthy to think about. Dark wood fixings gleamed under the fitful rays of dim light struggling to get through the almost inch thick curtains. The place was sparsely but expensively furnished: quality tatami on the floor, a third century silk hanging on the wall, huge wrought iron vases with inlaid gold rising up from the floor to stretch like mutated vines on either side of the hanging. The place was a palace.

Sasuke would sell his firstborn for the pleasure of burning the house and everything in it down to smoking ash and a bad memory.

The wooden floor glinted a malicious red in the afternoon light, and Sasuke remember countless psychotic fantasies of the red actually being from the blood of the inhabitants. The fantasy dream had come in many forms. When he had been younger and witness to his parents' cataclysmic battles, he'd think that the blood would be spilled after the kitchen knife that Mikoto had in her hand buried its way into his father's belly. When he'd been older, the dream mutated into Itachi slashing the throats of his entire clan while Sasuke looked on- vaguely traumatized and mostly impressed- from a corner.

Yes, Sasuke knew he had problems. He'd watched enough Criminal Minds to know when someone was having psychotic, homicidal fantasies.

"Get upstairs and pack your clothes. You're going to your mother's."

Sasuke blinked. That was it? That? That _alone_? Knowing Fugaku, there had to be a sharp-toothed, steel trap buried in there _somewhere_. So he waited.

"Well? Are you listening to me? I don't want you in this house a minute longer than necessary, you ungrateful bastard. Get upstairs and then get the hell out and don't ever come back."

Sasuke gritted his teeth against his anger and tried to focus on the meaning behind Fugaku's words. It wasn't the threat of being kicked out and never returning- no, Fugaku made those almost hourly. It was the 'ungrateful' that was the key. So that was it then- the old man was feeling _underappreciated_. Ungratefulness was the cardinal sin to Fugaku and committing it merited the most extreme consequences. Sasuke sank his teeth into his tongue to not say a word. Metallic blood pooled in his mouth but the Uchiha didn't dare remove the pain. The ex-officer was his worst when he was feeling slighted. He ranted and raved about all the 'sacrifices' he had made for Sasuke and Itachi- Itachi, who he saw as the epitome of being 'ungrateful' since the long-haired male had chosen to major in engineering instead of law. Sasuke was considered completely ungrateful by merely existing.

Sasuke instantly turned around to do as he was ordered when a smug, nasally voice rang out from the void.

"Look at that, darling, not even an acknowledgement. What a disrespectful little piece of filth."

Black hazed over on half of Sasuke's vision and he felt lopsided with hatred. Standing at the base of the stairs guarding the access to Sasuke's basement room was the fucking incarnation of Jezebel. In resplendent maliciousness stood Tayuya Sound- a twenty-two-year-old, pink-haired, shark-eyed bitch with all her considerable fangs sunken bone deep into the forty-eight-year-old man she was speaking to.

Sasuke had literally woken up one morning to find the bitch in his kitchen and it had gone downhill since then. She had stared at him- she, a stranger in _his_ fucking house- and then just turned back to sipping the coffee she had been drinking. Not even a greeting- nothing. Sasuke had repaid the favor by not acknowledging her presence for the next three weeks. The bitch the repaid _him_ by telling Fugaku that Sasuke refused to even greet her in the mornings.

The conversation that both Uchihas had later that day had not been pleasant. Fugaku had told him in no uncertain terms that Tayuya (oh, so that was her name) was here to stay and that he had better start showing some respect. Sasuke- in a fit of rage and rebellion- had told Fugaku that he had expected his perfectionist father to have more manners than to sleep with a woman his eldest son's age and that, in absolutely no way or form, was he acknowledging his father's sudden mid-life crisis and his temporary leave from sanity.

Fugaku had broken Sasuke's arm in two places that day. Itachi had watched- dark-eyed and non-interfering- from the back porch.

The homicidal vision of the Uchiha clan's blood running free down the stone steps of the house had raged behind Sasuke's eyelids for nights after. He had only fled to Naruto's house when he'd found himself in the basement that stored their family's heirloom Katanas. There were days when Sasuke scared himself. The things he knew he was capable of doing were bone chilling- so he'd fled.

That had been nine months ago. Now Itachi was in college and Sasuke was stuck staring at a woman who he hated from the very pits of his soul. A woman who, unfortunately, knew just how to get the burly man's ire to rise to an explosion of supernova-like proportions.

"Your stepmother is right. Show some respect. I swear to Christ that I have no idea how I sired you. Good god knows that I was never disrespectful to _my_ father. When I was your age-"

_Oh fuck me with a nine iro__n, _Sasuke thought tiredly, _he__re we go. _

The rant lasted for thirty-five minutes and twenty-six seconds exactly. When Fugaku had finally released him, Sasuke had heard, in painful detail, exactly how much of a regret he was, what Fugaku would have done differently given the choice, exactly how much of traitorous beast his brother was, and what kind of woman their mother was. Sasuke could repeat-ad verbatim- exactly how much of a perfect son his father had been and to round the whole thing off, Fugaku had delivered a solid round of colourful curses that Sasuke should experience the same trouble with his own children as Fugaku was receiving with him.

Nothing he hadn't heard before but still exasperating to listen to. By the time he had fled to the dark peace of his room, Sasuke was counting backwards in German from five hundred just to keep from opening his mouth and shoving himself even further down the stinking shithole that he was currently in. .

Sasuke packed quickly and silently, shoving a considerable amount of clothes into a black, nylon duffel that he had dragged out from under the dark recesses of his King-sized bed. Sasuke's room was painted pitch black with dark blue wall hangings and bone white furnishings that spread around the room in a sprawl of clean, perfunctory lines. It was stylish in an anti-classical, post-modern, minimalist sort of way- angular and mathematical, like something straight out of Architecture Today.

Sasuke preferred the rotting wood, leaky ceiling, and post-Victorianism of Naruto's house. For all its habit of falling down around their ears, that house had _character_.

Done, Sasuke trekked back up to the living room.

Oh, just fucking great- they were fucking snuggling on the couch. The dark-haired youth felt like gouging his eyes out with rusty knives when he witnessed his own father shoving his tongue down a positively adolescent throat. It had all the charm of statutory rape.

Fugaku pulled back to toss something at the littlest Uchiha. Sasuke reflexively snatched it out of the heavy air and stared blankly down at a folded wad of cash.

"Now get out."

'_Translatio__n,'_ Sasuke thought idly, '_g__et out of my direct line of sight for three or four days. Come back after I've refilled my Prozac prescriptio__n.'_

Without a word, Sasuke spun on the heel of his fine Gucci loafers and walked out.

* * *

The train ride across town had been uneventful. Sasuke had dragged his traveling earphones out of his backpack but had spent the entire ride wondering how it was that he could hear the churning of his stomach and grating squeal of the metal beast slugging along the tracks, but couldn't remember a goddamn word of any of the songs that he had listened to on his way over.

The 56th District was an up-and-coming residential area that had recently been hacked out of wild brush by the government and sold dirt cheap to developers. Developers had rezoned the place, threw in a few roads, and sold the aluminum rich plots of land to the general public for roughly six times what they'd paid for it in the first place.

The houses were all three to five stories here- ostentatious, pretentious displays of new money and hubris. Every man was trying to outdo his neighbor- and the house that Mikoto Uchiha lived in was no different. A three-story, yellow thing complete with white picket fence, vegetable garden, and custom wrought iron- the house (named 'Sanctuary') was a work of years of savings and frugality. When Mikoto and Fugaku had divorced, the slight woman had used her own money to build her own house. Not a rusty farthing of the pre-nuptial payout had gone into it.

'_A way of exorcising Fugaku from my life__,'_ Mikoto had said to him one time he had slept over. Sasuke had used his manners and only laughed at her _behind_ her back. Fugaku was like a cankerous mole. He never truly got out of your skin.

Sasuke used his copy of the keys and, sighing, he toed off his shoes and shoved the pearly white door open.

He came face to face with his mother's classical English sofa set- and a pair of dark-haired twin boys sitting on it, watching cartoons on TV.

What the _fuck_?

Four dark eyes- eyes that looked eerily similar to the ones that resided in his own head- stared curiously up at him from the padded couch. The boys- approximately nine years old- were deathly pale with inky black features. Dressed in matching dark blues and corduroy of a prep school, the twins were identical save for the expressions. One had a dopey, glaringly idiotic look on his face which managed to turn strong, angular features into a vapid, moronic moue. The other had slightly more guarded eyes- and Sasuke _still_ couldn't get over how much those eyes looked like his own.

The dopey one blinked and swung his sock-clad feet. "Who're you?"

Sasuke stared at him.

"_Excuse_ _me_?" He asked, completely floored. Had Sasuke somehow gotten the wrong house? Or walked into a completely alternate fucking reality perhaps? What _the_ _fuck_ was it with strangers and his houses?

"Ah, honey!" The stunned Uchiha glanced up from the sickening lumps of child flesh and took in his mother. She was a short woman- five-foot-two down to the inch- with a princess-like waist and a childlike demeanor. Not innocent- no, that wasn't it- Mikoto Uchiha was merely as truly blind and oblivious to reality as Sasuke himself strived to be. Her dark hair was completely down and…she was smiling.

Smiling.

Fucking smiling when there were complete strangers in his house.

Was Sasuke missing something here?

"Hello, Mother." He murmured still unable to drag his eyes away from the two newest invaders encroaching upon his presence. And yes, Sasuke knew he had space issues on top of his homicidal, psychotic ones.

"Mother-"

Mikoto cut him off her happy voice floating over his. She was practically bouncing on her feet and – in the second before she delivered her news- Sasuke had the horrible, sick feeling that what she was going to tell him right now would shift the very foundations of Sasuke's world as he knew it.

"Sasuke honey, meet Tobi and Obito. Your new brothers."

Sasuke blinked.

"_Excuse_ me?" Sasuke tried again, his mind scattered to the four corners of the earth at Mikoto's announcement.

And then, just when Sasuke had thought that his mind had had enough and was about to break apart, a new, deep, serpentine male tenor snaked its way out of the kitchen. Sasuke looked up just in time to see a tall, six-foot-something, svelte man with…oh, fuck me, god. The man looked like he could be the essence of Itachi. Ink-well black hair swirled around a long neck and a set of broad, proud shoulders. Piercing black eyes gazed out calculatingly and with a hidden touch of darkness from a death pale face.

"Mikoto." The man spoke again, shifting slightly in his well tailored suit. "You're getting ahead of yourself, darling, why don't you start at the beginning?"

Sasuke had been captivated by the man's face as he spoke. He- whoever he was- was undoubtedly an Uchiha- Sasuke would stake his life on it- his pale, stern visage was almost painfully beautiful to look at and the touch of savagery that lurked behind black eyes made the inky orbs seem to glow with an inner fire that could easily be mistaken for passion and not the bloodlust that it truly was. A touch of cruelty flirted about the man's stern mouth- a mouth that tilted into a soft, amused smile when he turned to speak to Mikoto.

"Oh! Of course!" The excited woman said before reaching out to clasp a strong, slender hand in her own dainty ones. "This is Madara, sweetheart. Madara Uuchiwa. Tobi and Obito are his sons."

Mikoto smiled more brilliantly than the sun and- in that split second- Sasuke felt arctic dread sink into his insides like the claws of a carnivorous wildebeast. "And we're getting married!"

"Naruto." A soft voice called from behind him. The tall blond turned away from the railing of the roof of the school's Language Laboratory to face Umino Iruka. It had been three years since Naruto had achieved his maximum height but it always shocked him that he was now towering above Iruka-sensei. When he had been younger, Iruka had been a force of nature to Naruto: a being of indefinable power, authority, and immortality. An immobile bastion in a sea of uncertainty that had been his life back then. Naruto always felt like some of that power the kind teacher possessed had been lost when the blond had outgrown him.

"Iruka–sensei. How may I help you?" The blond was worried about Sasuke and had no spare mental energy for evasiveness.

Christ. These days Naruto was always worrying about Sasuke. As a matter of fact- Naruto was always worrying about himself too- he was scared of the person he was becoming, but somehow couldn't stop. It seemed that the longer the days wore on, the more tired and angry he got. Naruto could feel an ancient age in his bones and a painful longing in the pit of his belly and it only got worse every time his Uchiha was away from him.

"You should be in Spanish class." Iruka informed him succinctly, lifting a slender hand to shield his face away from the cutting wind. The weather had taken a sharp downward turn mere minutes after Sasuke had left. Dark clouds loomed on the horizon and Naruto hoped to god that fate wasn't pathetic enough to be symbolizing his life. Angry, stinging winds were whipping about their faces, tossing their hair and clothes into a frenzy, but neither party moved.

"Yeah, I guess. So?"

Iruka's strong features seemed to age a lifetime in the milliseconds that Naruto had used to utter those words.

"Naruto, how many times have I told you? You need this class to raise your average. A General Diploma is an invaluable thing and you can't get it if-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. If I'm always skipping class. Christ, I know the lecture, Iruka. If you've come to rat me out to Hayate-sensei then just do it already. I'm not in the mood."

Naruto turned back to the railing and the grey skies. He missed his baby- even if he never called Sasuke that to his face for fear of his life and appendages- Naruto could- and did- call him that in the safety of his own mind. He was so fiercely worried for his lover that it had driven him to seek the barren, bleak solitude of the roof.

Iruka sighed and gazed over the symmetrical concrete lines of the Science building rising in the distance against the angry sky like a stubborn and barefaced tombstone.

"I didn't come here to argue with you, Naruto."

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto massaged a temple- a habit he'd been picking up from Sasuke lately. "Why are you here, then?"

"To deliver Principal Tsunade and the board's final decision."

Naruto spun around, wide-eyed. "What? The fuck do you mean, 'final decision'?"

Iruka frowned. "Language, young man."

Mollified, Naruto bit his chapped lip with a longer than normal canine. "Sorry."

A moment of silence passed between them. Iruka closed his eyes and desperately searched his memory for the reminders of the small, laughing, alive little boy that had once been. He was doing this for that little boy- they all were.

"They have decided that both you and Sasuke either undergo a rigid series of psychological evaluations-"

"WHAT?" Naruto screamed.

"Let me finish!" Iruka snapped, firm in his resolution. "You will undergo the psychological sessions with an accredited professional that the school is willing to hire for you- the both of you will follow the program to the letter or else-"

Naruto stared at the shorter man, suspicious. "Or else _what,_ sensei?" he grated out stiffly.

Iruka inhaled icy air. "…Or else I revoke my guardianship of you and the state puts you away in foster care with an Exemption Order to keep you there until you're twenty-one. Sasuke- will be expelled."

Naruto stared at the man he had thought of as a father. The betrayal and hurt in his soul was ripping at his insides and tearing a hot pathway of bile up his throat."

"How could you do this to us?" The blond whispered out harshly when he could speak again. Iruka wanted to cry in frustration.

"Because of that right there, Naruto! This- this attachment- this bond – whatever it is that you and Sasuke have- it's not healthy! Two people cannot co-depend this way! You never separate yourself from him- not even in your _pronouns_. This need you have to inflict pain- it's not right, nor normal, nor-"

"No!" Naruto screamed, furious to the very tips of his hair. "It's not something you all think is normal, so just because you don't do it, you want to tear us down-"

"Naruto!" Iruka stepped forward, arms outstretched but the blond evaded him like he was plague ridden. "_Nobody_ is trying to tear you down! Please listen to me! You're not _well,_ Naruto! Neither is Sasuke! You're like two drowning men clutching to each other for support but only managing to drag each other farther under the waves. I had to do this, Naruto- I _had_ to! I can't allow you to flounder like this- not when I have to power to get you- the both of you- some help!"

For a long moment ,Naruto just stared blankly at Iruka's impassioned face. When he finally spoke, his voice was oddly calm.

"And you think some sort of shrink can do that?"

The stressed teacher grasped onto his last thread of hope- Naruto sounded…well…far more pensive that Iruka thought. Maybe…just maybe the blond had realized how ill they were, too.

"No." He answered honestly. "We've seen Sasuke's aptitude tests, Naruto. With an IQ of over 150, we know that he can out-shrink a shrink. And you're no slouch either when you want to be. This is different- but we think this is the best way to go. The specialist's name is Momochi Haku. Please say you'll see him."

Naruto turned to gaze bitterly out into the bleak sky. After a moment, he turned back to Iruka's hopeful face.

"If this Momochi guy isn't a shrink, then what is he?"

Iruka exhaled a breath of air. "He's a counselor, Naruto….Momochi Haku…is a Marriage Counselor."

tbc


	4. Fracture

Hello All.

Yes, I'm alive.

Should I tell you exactly why I've been away so long (including the hospital visits, exams, work, stress and madness) then we'll be here all day. Fortunately, I'm not gonna do that and so- without further ado:

Enjoy:

**Pairing**: NaruSasuNaru

**Rating**: M. Seriously potty mouth this boy has.

**Dedication**: To **Skully**- for her (abnormal) patience.

**Beta**: Ffft. Yeah, right. Forgive the horrible mistakes within- I have tried my best.

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is not mine- he belongs to Mashashi Kishimot. Also, the lyrics quoted are from Shinedown's song 'Energy'. That's not mine either.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Fracture**

A fucking bio bomb or something must have just landed in Sasuke's house because right now the Uchiha knew he was hallucinating.

"Married." Sasuke parroted tonelessly.

Mikoto nodded brightly and clutched unto the man's –Madara's- hand even more tightly. For his part the sharp eyed male just took in the youth's stunned appearance with a grim twist to his thin lips.

Sasuke blinked once, twice then stood up and headed towards the kitchen without a word.

Inside the spacious butter-cream colored room Sasuke stood like a mannequin. Married. His fucking mother was getting married. To- to a….

The Uchiha spun on his heels and yanked open the double door fridge before sticking his head inside the freezer and just leaving it there. Arctic air crashed over the brunet like a frigid tsunami and even though Sasuke knew he was probably giving himself a head cold he left it there any way. One minute…two minutes…time slipped away like smoke.

Oddly enough Sasuke wasn't thinking about anything in particular- his thought processes seemed to have frozen and left the Uchiha absently considering the properties of the packet of ground beef right in front of his nose. Odd- his mother normally bought the other brand- the one without the-

"That's not healthy for you." A soft voice stated absently.

Sasuke shifted slightly and turned to blankly eye Madara out of the corner of his eye. The immaculate man was gazing hard and unwaveringly back. Sasuke blinked.

Moments passed in utter silence before Sasuke slowly pulled his head out of the freezer. Reaching in, he extracted the packet of ground beef before closing the door. A half stride later and he'd liberated pasta from the pantry. Wordlessly Sasuke went to the bar counter and began to assemble his materials.

Madara didn't move an inch.

Sasuke had gotten the beef cleaned, into a seasoning bow and doused under onions and black pepper before he spoke.

"Where is she?"

"With the boys…upstairs."

Mindlessly Sasuke added the scallion and thyme before shifting to find a pot and setting it on the stove. The younger of the two watched the pot heat with flat eyes.

"Do you know that she does this every six months or so? Finds a new man and claims to be getting married but dumps them before the fact. My mother- the serial bride."

Madara moved soundlessly around the island and reached for the olive oil before handing it to Sasuke.

"Yes."

Figures, Sasuke thought. A man like him doesn't make a decision without researching every conceivable thing he could beforehand.

Sasuke reached for the bow and with the aid of the dicing knife he slid the contents into the hissing oil. Carefully he covered the pot- but he didn't relinquish the knife. Sasuke's heart rate tripled in mere seconds but he forced himself to remain calm. The balance of power was about to be established- and Sasuke would be damned before he came away as the submissive.

"Does she know what you are?"

Madara's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. A tiny flash of teeth followed. "And what, pray tell, am I young one?"

Sasuke just stared. Hard.

Utter silence.

His gaze was returned by coldly amused black eyes and- no matter if his heart was going to beat out of his throat- dared the intruder to answer. Madara's lip twitched in both amusement and grudging admiration.

"…No."

The elder man kept his eyes locked with Sasuke's as he silently handed over a wooden spoon. Sasuke took it in his other hand. Not relinquishing the knife was a sign of fear yes- but it was a petty loss. Sasuke had already gained the upper hand.

Deliberately breaking eye contact Sasuke removed the pot cover and stirred the simmering contents.

"I must admit," Madara muttered softly, "you're just as smart as they said you were."

Sasuke didn't react. Not even for the implication that he'd been watched. Under no circumstances did he want to build a rapport with this man. He'd been burned one too many times by powerful, manipulative bastard thank you.

The older man delicately perched himself on a bar stool and a sardonic smile etched at the corner of his lips.

"What gave me away?"

The Uchiha's nostrils flared in annoyance. This fuck just wouldn't give up would he?

"My, what a temper you have young Sasuke."

The eighteen year old casually turned his back and fished out large pot for the pasta before dunking it under the faucet.

"Not afraid are you?" Madara sighed tiredly. "I keep forgetting how big the egos of the Uchiha family are."

Sasuke couldn't resist. "Don't you mean _our_ family?"

"No- I mean _your_ family. I don't look like an Uchiha, do I?"

The dark haired teen didn't need to look up to know that the man was pulling an innocent, wide eyed expression. Asshole.

The noodles went on and the sauce went into the beef. The warm kitchen was starting to pleasantly smell like cilantro, thyme and the . Sasuke looked back up and stared straight at Madara.

"Why her?"

The dark eyed man's gaze became serious. "The boys need a mother. Their birth mother- a woman named Konan- is unknown to them and I would prefer for them to have some semblance of normality in their lives. My…world is yet unknown to them as well."

"That's it?" Sasuke accused. "You just want them to have a Mom?"

Madara shifted to look out the window and for a fleeting second Sasuke fancied that he saw a flash of utter exhaustion cross the man's face. It was gone in seconds though and Sasuke passed it off as a trick of the dying evening light.

"That's it." The other man turned to face Sasuke and there was- oddly enough- a gleam of honesty in the black red eyes. "No nefarious plots, no underhanded schemes, no convoluted conspiracy. Your noodles are done."

The Uchiha blinked at the non-sequitor before turning away to strain the soft pasta. For the first time in what seemed like eons the eighteen year old allowed his mind to work furiously. In sheer seconds he considered scores of possibilities and probable actions but discarded them just as quickly. Turning back to the stove Sasuke rested the noodles down and clicked the beef off. He stared the long haired man right in the eyes.

"…I hate children."

Madara's grin was shark like. "I know. You're the only senior boy in your year that didn't enter the mentorship program."

Sasuke slammed the metal cover unto the pot. "And I fucking hate people snooping into my life too."

The man nodded- eyes wide in comic sincerity. "Of course- that's why you get so pissed when your blond boy snoops in your laptop. I know these things."

Sasuke glared.

Madara just threw back his head and laughed.

* * *

_Who cares who's there to stare and tell you how to look?_

_I'm not even sure they know you by name._

_Who cares who's there to share what they think of you, _

_Everybody here plays the same fucking ga-_

"Fuck this music is emo." Sasuke muttered to himself as he stuffed his feet into his shoes. It was pushing two am and the house was as dark and silent as the grave. The pervasive blackness from outside seemed to push into the room through the French windows and for the millionth time Sasuke found himself wondering just how the fuck he was sleeping on the couch while two snot nosed brats lounged in his bedroom.

No mistake, Sasuke didn't mind the couch- It was a soft, deep, human-swallower of a thing that was probably more comfortable than his mattress, but it was the principle of the entire situation. His own mother had kicked him out of his room to put up the children of a man who the Uchiha would bet his life was a drug dealer. Ass crack of night or not Sasuke was getting the fuck out of there.

Shod, the young man unfolded his frame and pressed the next button on his iPod; for all their brilliance Shinedown sometimes only managed to piss him off. Silently Sasuke moved across to the foyer where he grabbed his duffel and hoodie. His hand was on the doorknob when-

"The last time you crept out of my house in the middle of the night I didn't see you again for eleven months."

….._Fuck_.

Sasuke didn't turn to look at his mother. Her soft voice had speared him through the gut and he cursed himself a fool for forgetting how light a sleeper Mikoto was. How many nights in his childhood had he woken up to find his mother puttering silently about his room checking windows and switching off paused video games.

"Sasuke," Mikoto continued softly. "Do you really hate me that much?"

Oh _double_ fuck. The Uchiha sighed and pressed his forehead against the polished ash door. The bitch of the situation was that no, he didn't hate her. Naïve as Mikoto was Sasuke understood her and accepted her for it.

"I just-" a shuffle alerted him to her movement towards him. "Sasuke, the last time…when you ran away it broke my heart you know that? I woke up and my baby child was gone into god knows where. We searched for you for so long. Combing the back alleys and homes until Fugaku started suggesting the morgues."

Sasuke grit his teeth. This same old guilt trip again. He had been fourteen when he'd left; lured away into a darkness by a man that wanted more from him than he could give. Orochimaru had been the ultimate predator; a snake of a man who offered power and adventure to a lost teen who had been standing impotent as his family fell apart. In hindsight the Uchiha knew he had run away more out of silly teen angst and rebellion than for true disaster- it had been a mistake but a mistake that had fucked up more lives than he cared to admit.

He also knew that if it hadn't been for one tenacious blond who had missed school for an entire year and almost literally walked the fucking 188 mile distance from Konoha to Sendai to drag his ass back home then he would still be there in Sound, probably drugged and fucked out of his mind.

Naruto.

_God_. Naruto.

"You're going back to your father's?"

And Sasuke just loved how they always made him the connection between them instead of their own fucked up decisions. Fugaku was always '_your'_ father, never '_her'_ ex-husband.

"No." He answered flatly, opening the door.

"Naruto-kun then?" The hopeful tilt in her voice reminded him just how much his mother loved the blond. Before he could answer Mikoto had spun around and padded into the kitchen. Soft rattles, bangs and the rustle of a paper bag caused Sasuke to frown momentarily before she came back pushing a reinforced hemp bag at him.

"Here." She insisted. "Some things for the both of you- the rest of that spag bol you did, some ramen and a few other things. I know how he eats and- Oh!"

Sasuke blinked as his mother rushed back upstairs to her room for a second before coming back with a-

Oh hell no.

"_No_ Mother." Sasuke grated as she began to tuck the wad of US notes into his pocket.

Mikoto's lips thinned and Sasuke remembered that this woman had stared down a drunken Fugaku before. She didn't acknowledge him as she finished her task and turned away. Sasuke cursed under his breath before turning back to the door.

"…Sasuke?"

A beat.

Her voice was defeated. "I'm sorry."

He didn't even turn back as the door shut behind him and the freezing night air cramped his lungs. Once again Sasuke deliberately didn't think about anything; not about how dangerous it was to leave Mikoto alone with a murderer, not about how dangerous getting back to the Proper would be and certainly not about how his own mother would rather apologize for saving herself than him.

No, definitely not that.

Anything but that.

* * *

Two thirty seven am and Sasuke was plodding, head down, past the few drawn looking hookers that haunted the Proper's streets like exhausted ghosts. He'd passed the high school a couple minutes ago and the old wooden Mother of Our Faith church where Naruto went for Rehab meetings was looming up ahead of him. Sasuke figured another half an hour and he'd be home- with Naruto.

But first- his fucking iPod was blaring Shinedown again. Grumbling, Sasuke pulled the slim silver digit from his pocket and ruthlessly jammed his finger into the next button. He'd only been distracted for a second but experience should have taught him that that was a second too long. He looked up to find himself staring into the stitched up face of Konoha's resident Frankenstein.

"Ain't it a bit past your bedtime Uchiha?"

Sasuke felt like slamming his head into a wall.

"No Kazuku- but I'm sure they're missing you for your 3 am performance back at Cirque du Freak. Run along now Stitches, I don't have the energy."

The gangsters face mutated into a monstrous glare.

"The _fuck_ you just done call me, bottom boy?"

Ok, fine. Not the wisest move- Sasuke would give himself that. Everyone knew that the Scourge of Konoha despised having the numerous raised, stitch like puckered scars on his body acknowledged in any form. Sasuke had heard that the last punk to insult Kazuku's body had ended up flayed and minus one liver.

"I _said_, what did you just-"

"Kazuku- enough." A low whisper slipped into the conversation like smoke. Immediately the bulky man moved a step back, his abnormal yellow-green looking eyes brimming with hatred.

Sasuke stopped dead.

"Show yourself Sabaku." He ordered barely managing to cover the homicidal intent that had flared up inside him. Sabaku Gaara; the man the young raven would give anything to sink a bullet into, materialized from the darkness.

"I was not concealing myself Uchiha Sasuke." He stated in that soft half strangled voice of his that made the Uchiha's fingers itch to finish the job.

There was no love lost between the two at all despite how similar they were. Having known each other from infancy the two had grown together in close proximity since Gaara's father, the Mayor, had had a close working relationship with his Chief of Police.

The redhead had actually been alright back in the day; sure he rarely spoke and had a tendency to stare blankly at something for hours at a time but he'd been alright. Sasuke had introduced him to Naruto and the three had been thick as thieves for a while with the hyperactive blond actually managing to coax some laughter out of the quiet redhead every now and again.

But then they turned eight and after Gaara's mother had lost her fight with cancer the brilliantly successful Kazekage had swallowed a mouthful of bleach and half a bottle of Xanax. Bye Bye nice Gaara.

"The fuck ever." Sasuke retorted. "What are you doing out here- trying to lure more innocent people into heroin dependency?"

Gaara's soft green eyes just stared at Sasuke. Fuck the five foot bastard for being so pretty too.

"Naruto came to me because you left him for your forty year old lover. I comforted him the way I knew how."

Sasuke was torn between vehemently denying that Orochimaru had been his lover and slamming the sole of his three hundred dollar loafers into Gaara's delicate nose.

"You made him an addict you bastard! God knows how he survived when he came for me. He _still_ won't tell me how he got his fix during those months on the road. Do you know what his withdrawals were like Sabaku?" Sasuke snarled taking a step closer.

"Where the fuck was your comfort when he was shivering so hard he bit his tongue nearly in half? Where were you when he couldn't eat for a month and the house reeked of vomit and piss? The fuck were you when he started hallucinating Sabaku? Sucking Frankenstein's dick?"

To Gaara's credit the redhead lowered his eyes momentarily and a vague something flickered past his pale face.

Sasuke stared at the shorter teen and felt himself tremble in rage. Naruto was still Gaara's friend though and he knew that the blond would be pissed if he hurt him. Gaara's appearance usually fooled people into thinking he was a helpless little androgyne but Sasuke had seen the Sabaku heir wipe his delicate fingers clean of blood after sinking a sharpened pencil into a classmate's shoulder.

Silence reigned supreme for a few minutes before Gaara looked up and stepped to the side symbolically.

"Pass Uchiha Sasuke. I do not wish to confront you."

That fuck. Sasuke was itching for a fight but it was late and the Uchiha didn't particularly want three am in the morning to be realized in the ER.

Gritting his teeth Sasuke stalked past the short redhead and the other members of his gang that had stayed silent in the shadows of the church eaves. As he passed the marble front steps Sasuke glanced up at the large crucifix that hung above the entry archway. He hadn't set foot in a church in years, half out of lost faith and the other half out of sardonic fear that he'd be struck dead the second he entered. Mikoto had always been a religious woman and she'd dutifully toted Sasuke and Itachi behind her whenever she went to Mass. Sasuke had absorbed the tales of the good lord and could still remember some of them but right now, when the world was pitch black and the problems kept coming, Sasuke wondered what kind of merciful god was up there.

Passing by the Uchiha continued up the street suddenly desperate for his floor mattress and his lover's warm Irish Spring scented body.

Fifteen minutes later Sasuke pushed his way into the empty foyer of Naruto's house. Tossing his duffel into some random corner the Uchiha toed of his shoes, tore off his sweater, chucked the iPod unto the floor and fell, exhausted and face first beside a snoring blond- only to be jabbed in the gut by a hard edge.

_Motherfuc_-

Yanking the sheet back Sasuke snorted in disgust at the blonde's still snoring form- Judgment day wouldn't wake Naruto from sleep. Looking back down to the object he had fallen on Sasuke's eyes widened when the flickering moonlight highlighted the words blazoned on the cover of the hard backed book.

'_Climbing Out- What to Do When Your Marriage is in the Gutter.'_

Sasuke blinked.

_Wait…..__**What**_?

* * *

Lawl. Poor Sasuke. He just doesn't get a break does he? XD


End file.
